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A Texas judge has ruled that the Texas State Bar’s lawsuit against First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster violates the separation of powers secured by the Texas Constitution. In so ruling, the judge granted the office of the Attorney General’s plea to the jurisdiction and dismissed the state bar’s meritless and politically-motivated disciplinary charges against Webster. The office of the Attorney General argued in its motion that the bar’s attempt to unduly influence the office in the exercise of its constitutional powers is not only improper, but also violates Texas law. The specially- assigned Judge John Youngblood, agreed, stating in his ruling: “[T] he separation-of-powers doctrine deprives this Court of subject-matter jurisdiction. To hold otherwise would stand for a limitation of the Attorney General’s broad power to file lawsuits on the State’s behalf, a right clearly supported by the Texas Constitution and recognized repeatedly by the Texas Supreme Court.”